For many years attempts have been made to decipher one's thoughts using the bio-electric signals that are produced by the body involuntarily in response to the thoughts or emotions. Traditional biofeedback techniques have focused on measuring the conductivity and electrical sensitivity of the skin using, for example, galvanic skin response (GSR) and electrodermal reflex (EDR). The prior art techniques, however, are slow since the body chemistry which impacts the above physical characteristics does not change quickly. The slow electro-chemical response results in a delay of several seconds in detecting the thought or emotion. Such limitations have therefore suffered from lacking a real-time response functionality required or desired in many control function environments.
One exemplary solution to the above problems in the prior art uses a sensor sleeve that fits over the human finger. The sensor appears to utilize a pair of electrodes for generating a current through the finger and also irradiates the skin with ultraviolet (UV) light to detect heart beat activity (e.g., the pulse), temperature (e.g., changes in resistivity), blood pulse volume and composite neural activity. The prior art sensor system processes the plurality of detected parameters as a series of electrical signals produced by the thoughts. The sensor technology, however, suffers from a variety of performance and other limitations. For example, the technology still is slow since the detected body parameters such as blood pulse volume and body temperature still are rather slow, thereby prohibiting a real-time type control functionality. In addition, the sensor is only capable of binary type control functionality such as ON/OFF, STOP/GO or UP/DOWN. Since many types of control systems require more than two control states, the above prior art solution is ineffective. Lastly, the sensor is not passive, but rather actively invades the human body with current and other electrical stimulus and irradiates the body with radiation such as ultraviolet light which have uncertain health and environmental impacts. Due to such uncertainty, many individuals are reticent to utilize the technology.
Therefore there is a need in the art for a system and a method for detecting thoughts and providing a control function in response to the detection in real-time. In addition, there is a need in the art for a system and method in which the detection of thoughts is accomplished with a passive sensor which does not output a voltage or radiation to detect a parameter, and lastly a system and method which provides a variety of control functions.